Jerome Wetzel is the Chief Television Critic for Seat42F and a regular contributing reviewer on Blogcritics. He also appears on The Good, The Bad, and the Geeky podcast and Let's Talk TV With Barbara Barnett.

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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Supanatural

Among Amazon's recently released pilot offerings is Supanatural. At first glance, this looks to be the least promising, the animated characters not appealing to me in the slightest. But upon watching the episode, I actually found it quite humorous.

Lucretia (Jameeliah Garrett) and Hezbah (Lily Sparks, Boyz Nite Out/Grrlz Nite in) do not look like your typical supernatural crime fighting duo. They dress a bit low class and work in the mall, Lucretia in a candle shop and Hezbah as a security guard. They don't talk with the best of grammar, act like divas, and have trouble making their rent.

Yet, for some reason, this strange combo works. From Indiana Jones to Gremlins, the "Pilot" is packed with funny gags from the film genre these two women look least interested in. I think it's the unexpectedness of the premise, the way that Supanatural turns stereotypes on their heads, that really appeals to me. It's sort of like a more grounded, better drawn Ugly Americans, with even more bizarre pairings.

"Pilot" finds the girls bringing back a crystal skull (voiced by Drew Droege) from a temple, and when the Vatican refuses to pay up, they take it to work. Hezbah can't resist using it to torture her nemesis, skinny girl Brooke (Riki Lindhome, Enlightened), but a coincidental ring tone opens a wormhole in the shoe store that swallows the latest shipment of sneakers. Hezbah and Lucretia try their best to shut the portal, though are frequently distracted by the alluring Three Feathers (James Adomian, The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson) and Lucretia's annoying boss, who actually wants her to, gasp, get some work done.

While I greatly enjoyed the "Pilot" of Supanatural, I am concerned about the viability of a series based on this. Much of the humor came from the novelty of the characters in this particular situation, something that will likely wear off rather quickly. At this time, none of the side roles are really developed, played only for a quick punchline, rather than showing any real personality. For more episodes to work, there will need to be a deepening of the central cast.

There is a thread dropped for an ongoing arc, though, in which a demon runs for Mayor of their town. That could provide a serial story, very unusual for a cartoon such as this, that may keep it from being just a series of gags. That could certainly add some promise to the show, if followed through on.

Supanatural is definitely for mature audiences and would feel at home on Adult Swim, not be confused with the other Amazon cartoon pilots, which are for children. I'm glad it has this going for it, as it definitely needs the edginess if it's going to do well.